On 16 May 2005 04:25:46 -0700, "Rupert Candy"
wrote:

Actually Network SouthEast went through a real fad for this type of
displays in the 90s - as well as the Networker generation of trains
already mentioned, the Class 321 and 456 got them, and there were
several 'static' installations - examples I can remember include above
the ticket windows at Liverpool St and Cambridge (both of which became
illegible very quickly), above the platform entrances at Liverpool St
(in varying states of legibility but all still there) and on some
platform indicators (Barking seems to ring a bell). On Networkers they
were replaced with LCD displays, and on Class 456s they were replaced
with old-fashioned blinds (still in use)!

I think it was a BR fad. Such displays also appeared in the form of
the old departure boards at Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport
and Euston (and probably others), not to mention the Class 323
Regional Railways EMUs.

None of them lasted well, and many have been removed, including many
of the 323s which have now gained the hugely superior LEDs, and
Manchester Piccadilly which has gained a new display - astonishingly
this is another LCD one!

I think the motivation was that they looked modern. There's a good
reason why the rest of Europe remained with flipboard technology on
stations for so long.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
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